Community Homebuyers Inc. has agreed to hire a mold inspector to test all five of the newly built homes in Wheatland.

CHI, a non-profit affiliate of Mercer County Housing Authority and developer of the homes, also gave the two most vocal complainants about mold problems the option of moving out of their Woodland Avenue homes, at CHI expense, until tests can determine what danger the mold poses.

The buyers of the five homes also have complained about construction problems and a balloon in their mortgage payments, but determining the danger level of the mold is the priority, said Frank Gargiulo, CHI housing planner, and residents Ron Fraley of 25 Woodland and Mark Raymond of 45 Woodland.

"I'm very concerned, if this is a dangerous mold, these people are in a dangerous environment," said Donn D. Ed, executive director of Hosanna Industries Inc., Rochester, Pa., which built the houses. "It doesn't seem humane. I wouldn't want to be in this situation myself."

CHI has allowed the homeowners to hire Gary Gazda of Home Inspections and Environmental Services, Baden, who has already done air and swab tests for mold at the Fraley home.

"Gary's working for you, not Community Homebuyers," Gargiulo told Ron and Karen Fraley and Raymond at a meeting Saturday. "CHI will pay the bill."

Gargiulo said he wants Gazda to test the homes as soon as possible, and Gazda told him he could do it this week.

The Fraleys hired Gazda on their own in February -- the test cost $850 -- and he found pathogenic and mycotoxin molds from the basement to the attic.

"These are types of molds that are not allergenic," he said. "They affect a body in a more serious manner."

Mold impacts each person differently, but tends to have the most affect on the young, the elderly and those with diminished immune systems, he said.

Asthmatics also are at greater risk, he said.

Mrs. Fraley and one of the couple's three children, son Jeremy, have asthma, and their conditions seems to have gotten worse since they moved into the house in October 2000, Fraley said.

Jeremy has missed a lot of school, he said, and is now having Albuterol treatments from a nebulizer up to three times day.

Jeremy was tested by a doctor and found to be allergic to four of the kinds of molds that were found in the house, Mrs. Fraley said. He will be sent for more extensive testing to try to determine the level of mold in his system, they said.

Both of the Fraleys smoke cigarettes and Fraley said the smoking contributes to their son's condition. They said they don't smoke around him.

Raymond said he has had everyday headaches for seven months, one of his dogs has developed breathing problems and his niece, Nicole Sickles, who lives with him and is co-owner of the house, has had dermatitis and bronchitis.

At Gazda's recommendation, the Fraleys no longer go into the basement or use their sons' room, Fraley said.

While only Lynne Camerlengo has had standing water in her basement -- her sump pump recently blew out -- the other homes' basements are constantly humid, Fraley and Raymond said.

Fraley said he bought a dehumidifier shortly after moving into the home in, and it burned up by the next Christmas. The unit ran constantly and was being emptied up to three times a day, he said.

Fraley said he had the first inkling of a problem when he took some furniture to the basement. "Within three days, it was covered with white fuzzies," he said.

Fraley said Gazda told him not to bring anything up from the basement out of the fear of tracking more mold into the rest of the house.

A steel beam in the basement is covered with surface rust.

"This beam was pristine steel when it was put in," Fraley said.

In the Fraley house, mold can been seen in the rafters of the basement, the corners of upstairs closets and the bathroom, and some of their woodwork has darkened from it.

Gazda, who will return to the Fraley house to do more extensive testing, said constant moisture promotes mold growth in cellulose material, such as drywall, wallpaper and the building material known as oriented strand board.

Gazda can put together a mold remediation plan but cannot do the work, which would have to be done by a state-certified mold remediation firm.

If the mold is not too bad, it can be cleaned with special surface cleaners, or the house can be filled with ozone, Gazda said.

A simple disinfectant, such as bleach, can disturb mold growth and do more harm than good, he said.

Porous material, such as woodwork, carpeting, clothing and furniture, might have to be removed and destroyed.

Fraley and Raymond fear the mold infestation might be so intrusive that their houses would have to be gutted or demolished.

"We don't know if it's to that point," Fraley said. "Until then, we're taking it as a worst-case scenario."

Fraley and Raymond blame the moisture problem on poor drainage. They said there is a natural spring near the house at the highest elevation, and water runs down through the yards of all five houses. After heavy rains, many of the homes have standing water in their front and back yards.

"It's a swamp," Ms. Camerlengo said of her yard, which causes mud and mosquito problems in the summer.

Fraley said he put two tons of dirt on his front yard because grass wasn't growing. It washed down the hill with the first rain, he said.

CHI has hired Hickory Engineering Inc., Hermitage, to develop a plan to deal with the problem, Gargiulo said.

Gargiulo said, when the houses, were built, he thought Hosanna, a non-profit corporation, and the borough's consulting engineer, Winslow Engineering Inc., Hermitage, would contour the land to take away the water.

There was no drainage plan and Gargiulo said he does not know if the storm sewer line that runs nearby was tapped into.

"We should have engineered the site properly," he said.

Wheatland Mayor Thomas Stanton said a borough drainage ditch was filled in during construction.

Raymond said his home insurance company has told him it will not renew his policy, which is paid up through November, unless the water problem is taken care of.

"The won't insure against a natural spring," he said, adding that his yard has dropped at least a foot since he moved in.

Without insurance, he defaults on his mortgage, Raymond said.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Joe Pinchot at

jpinchot@sharon-herald.com